Rhinelander - You don't use a boat to ice fish. So you might not think twice about Aquatic Invasive Species. Ice fishermen can make the problem worse.AIS specialists have been out on the frozen lakes taking surveys. The purpose of this is to see if you're familiar with proper protocol in cleaning off your gear.
"Be aware of what's in the water and be aware of what your actions are," said AIS Ice Fishing Specialist, Chris Hamerla. "Make sure your not transporting water or live fish from lake to lake. Make sure you're taking time to clean the plants off."If you don't clean off your gear correctly or transfer water from one lake to the next, there can be bad repercussions for your actions. The species that transfer from one body of water to the next can take over from other native species."If that virus gets in there, and it affects the entire fish population while they're spawning, you could have massive die offs like we've seen out in Lake Michigan in the past." Hamerla said.The fish that do survive have antibodies so they're able to live, but the next generation of fish might not have the ability to fight off the disease.